Machine for rendering soles flexible.



BATES.

MACHNE FOR RENDBRNG SOLES FLEXIBLE.

APPLIUATION FILED DHU. 5, 1912.

Patented Jan. 2a?, E925.

2 SEEETS-SEBET l.

5. @MMM THE NORms PETERS C0.. FHQTGLITHD.` wASHlrzumN D C.

A. BATES.

MACHINE POR RENDERING SOLES FLEXIBLE.

APPLIUATION FILED 1120.5. 1912.

1,126,350, Patented Jan.26,1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

/f 35 df a 654 A. A; a 4/ \\\X l Am //0 WWA/55555. F A39 VEA/T571@.CYTQKEMQM. f' g mm the sole.

UNITED sTA'rEsgigENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR EATES, OE LEI-CEST'ER, ENGLAND, AsfsI'GNn To UNTED 'sn/ionMAOIINERY COMPANY, OF PATEitsoN, JERSEY',

A CORPORATION OE NEW JEnsEY;

MACHINE EOE RENDERING soLEs ELE'XI'LE.

Application led December 5, 197172.

Soles Flexible; and I dohereby declare the .followingto Vbe a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenablegothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

f This invention relates to sole flexing machines and more` particularlyto such maf chines of the type wherein the flexibility of the sole isobtained by making agseries of slashes or cuts in one face oftheforepart of In one type ofjmachine,,heretofore proposed, for flexingsolesin this manner a single Zknife is provided for making a succes`sion o f parallel slashes, the knife being of a VWidth not greater thanthe length of the shortest slashrequired, slashes of increased lengthbeing produced by moving the knife laterally in the line of cut.Inpractising this method a majority of the slashes require two cutting`movements of the knife and consequently the feed of the sole throughthel machine `is somewhat delayed.

The object of the present invention is to produce a machine of the typedescribed in which the speed at which thesole is fed through the machineis increased, and is undelayedby the operation of the mechanism for,operating the slash forming means.

In accordance With-this object, one feature ofthe invention contemplatesthe provision of a plurality of reciprocating slash forming knives,arranged to overlap one another, and

means to vary the extentof their overlap=V ping relation, as the sole isfed through the Y machine, to 5 produce slashes of varying length asrequired by the Width of the `portionof the sole being operated on ateach incision. lVith this construction a feedstep may be takenr aftereach single incising movement of the knives. Preferably the overlappingknives are spaced apart a distance equal to the lengthof feed step used.Thus, after a feed step has taken place, the slash kmade bv one knifewill be brought into alinement With another knife so that during thesucceeding incising movement thesaid slash will be given a properincrease of length. This construction permits the slashing-totake placeWhile the machine is run at specincatnm of Letters Patent;

, Patented Jan. 26, 1915. serial No. 735,060.

a high rate o f speed. To further increase the speed of the machine theknives are em'-V ployed as the sole feeding agent. In the preferredconstruction, the slashing knives are arranged to enter the sole at anoblique angle to its face, thus producing a series of overlapping, thinsole portions which, `when the sole is bent, Will easily pick up or openafter the manner of fish scales and thus impart extreme flexibility tothe sole. The drection of opening of the slashes, that is,- toward thetoeA or toward the heel, is of importance to different manufacti'irers.Some manufacturers use an insole tack pulling machine in which the toolhas a tack engaging movement from the toe toward the heel, while `othermanufacturers use a tack pulling machine in which the tool has a reversemovement. In order to prevent injury ta the sole, by an engagement ofthe tack pulling tool in the slashes,v the slashesshould open in thesame direction as the direction of movement of the tool.

` Another object of the invention, therefore, is to provide for theproduction of oblique slashesopening either toward the toe or to- Wardthe heel of the sole,V j

In accordance With this object a further feature of the inventioncontemplates a construction and arrangement `of the parts whereby a solemay be instantly presented to the slashingmeans either toefirst or heelfirst While the direction of feed remains the same. No claim is iliadebroadly to provision, in a machine of the type described, for projducingoblique slashes opening either toward the toe or heel of the sole,but the inventor believes himself to be the-first to produce a machineby which this .result may be o btained Without making any alteration inthe Working parts of the machine Other features of the invention relateto certain devices, combinations and arrangementsof parts, hereinafterdescribed and claimed, which` possess` advantages in simplicity ofconstruction and ease of operation jhich will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art. Y Y The preferred embodiment of the inven tion isillustrated in the accompanying dra. \vings in which: Figure 1 is aplanof the machine vvith a portion of the fra-me removedtoI show` theparts beneath it; Fig` 2 is arear elevation, partly in section, showingthe mecha- Y sof 1 the eccentric will cause the knife-carrying ingknives and the means for moving said Y slides laterally; and Fig. 5 is adetail view,

partly in section, ofthe floating carrier, for the sole' slashingknives, and its operating mechanism.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings thevmachine is shown as comprising a box-shaped frame 1 within which themechanism is situated, the upper portion of the said frame form* ing atable 2 over which the sole passes. A slot 3 is formed in this tablethrough which reciprocating knives 4,' 5V operate. These knives enterthe sole at an oblique angle to its face and aresituated one behind `theother, as shown, for a purpose which will be described later. Situatedabove the said slot is a bridge 6, suitably secured to the frame 1, forreceiving the thrust `of the knives. The bridge 6 is provided with arenewable wear plate 7 held in place by a guide pin 7a and bolt 7 b (seeFig. 3).' Against the bridge 6 the sole,"in the particular constructionshown, is intermittently pressed by apresser foot 8. The knives 4, 5 forproducing the slash in the sole have imparted to them a fourway motionso as first to slash the sole then to feed the sole then to retire fromthe sole and, finally to move back to their starting position. In orderto enable this motion to be imparted the knives are carried on afloating frame 9 which is controlled by two movable pivots 10 and11. Thepivot 10 is supported and actuated by one end of'a supporting anddriving link 12, the other end of which is provided with a sleeve em*bracing an eccentric 13 on the main shaft 14 of the machine. The pivot11 is carried by one arm 15V of abell-crank lever pivoted tothe frame ofthe machine at 17, the other larm 18 of the said bell-crank lever beingprovided with contact faces engaging a cam 19- on the main shaft 14 ofthe machine. rllhe eccentric 13 and the cam 19 are so arranged that inthe operation of the machine frame 9' toV rock on its pivot 11 to forcethe knives into the sole tocut parallel slashes. After these slasheshave been vformed and while the knives lie therein the cam will comeinto operation and Vswing the bellcrank lever arm 15 in the vdirectionof the arrow (Fig. 8), and thereby cause the knifecarrying frame 9 toswing on its pivot 10 and thus Afeed the sole forwardly, or to the leftof an observer of Fig. 3. In the next portion of the cycle of'operationsthe eccentric 13will come into action to withdraw the knivesfrom thesole, and when this has taken place the camv 19 willswing the bellcranklever arm 15 in the reverse direction and thus cause the knife-carryingframe 9 to move back again on its pivot 10 toits original position. Aspring 20, one end of which is attached to the bell-crank lever 18 70and the other end to the frame 1 of the machine (see Fig. 3) is providedin order to counter-balance the weight of the moving parts.

The presser foot 8 is formed on a bell- 75 crank lever having arms 21,22 and is held in contact with the work during the Vslashing operationby means of a spring 23 which surrounds a spindle 24 'pivoted by meansof a stud 25 to the arm 21. The spin- 8@ dle 24 passes through the framet of the machine and is provided with a milled headed nut, as shown, forthe purpose ofadjusting the presser foot toward or from the sole andconsequently varying the pressure of the presser foot thereon. In orderto release the presser foot from the work and thus allow it to be fed bythe knives il, 5 the arm 22 is provided with a cam roll 26 which isadapted'to be engaged by'a cam'27 90 on the shaft 14;. As will readilybe understood, when the cam 27 comes into operation the bell-cranklever-'will be swung on its pivot 17 andthus move the presser" foot,

against the action of its spring, from the Work. Y y

As the width of a sole varies at different parts, means is provided toenable the length of the slashv to be variedI correspondingly as theslashing progresses along the length of the sole and preferablythisineans is controlledby one or more` devices which'rbear on the edgeof the sole. As previously pointed out, the knives l, 5 are mounted onebehind the other, and the width of each of the knivesis equal to theshortest slash which it is required to cut. In order to increase thelegnth of the cut means is provided whereby the knives may be movedrelatively to each other laterally so thatas the knife 5 110 forms aslash of its widthduring one stroke, at the next slashing 'stroke theknife 4, which is situated at one side of it,`will cut partly into theslash which the knife 5 previously made and'will also by reason of itslateral 115 displacement, cut more or less to oneside of the said slashbut in alinement therewith, thereby increasing Vits'length. In order tocarrythis into eect the two knives 4, 5 are fixed on independentslides28, 29 vmounted 120 on'the knife-carrying frame 9 so that when thesaidslides are operated by mechanism which .will now be described,thesaid knives will be moved laterally relatively to each other. Theslides 28-29' work in a suitable 125 slideway 30 on the knife-carryingframe 9, and are held in place therein by a plate 31 secured to the saidframe by screws. As shown in Fig. 3 theplate 81 is provided with anundercut portion 32 whichfits over pro- 130 jecting portionsvfornied onthe slides. rllhe slides 28, `29 are inalinernentfwith. one anotherbutthe` slide 28 is made tllker `than the 'Slide 2,9, aS. Shown inl11iis-44, Sethtth@ knife e projects beyond `and .overlaps the knife 5. Intheir extreme inward position when the shortest slash is required, thatis, a, slash `which is, equal in lengthvonly the width of one oftheknives, they will lie directly over each other. In order tolnove theslides 28, 29 they are provided with slots 33, 341-. and these slots areengaged bv blocks pivoted on levers 3G that are fulcruined to the frameof the machine at 37. The levers 3,6are provided at their upper endswith gages 38 that are adapted to Contact one on either side of theedges of a sole as it is passed through the machine, a spring 39, oneend of which is attached to one of the levers 36 andthe other end to theother lever, being provided so as to keep the two gages 38 in contactwith the edge of the sole.

From the foregoing it will be understood that as the sole is fed throughthe machine the edge gages bearing on the edge ofy the sole at pointsbetween which the knives are acting, will Inove th@ `knives d, 5 anddecrease or increase the overlap of the knives according to the widthofthe sole, or the width of the portion of the sole to be slashed, so`that the slashes cut will correspondingly be varied in length. It willof course be understood that the length of feed step is equal to thedistance. between the two knives so that the knife 4 will come into itscorrect position in alinement with the slash previously caused by theknife 5. In order that the distance between the two knives sha-ll beequal to the lengthof feed step this distance may be varied by insertingpacking pieces between the knives to bring .the edges of the knivesnearer to or farther from each other. t i lnorder to vary the depth ofcut of the knives il, 5 they are fixed in the slides 28, 29 so that theycan be adjusted upwardly and downwardly, slots 40, ll being vprovided inthe Shanks of the knives for this purpose through which pass suitablelocking screws see Fig. l) which take into the slides. Two screws 42,4er-3 are provided which project from the lower portion of the knifecarrying frame 9 and act as abutment screws to take the thrust of theknives. e

, It will be clear that when the knives l, 5 are in the sole that theedge gage levers 36, owing to their operative connection to the knives,will be unable to expand and hence the sole cannot be fed through themachine if its taper is an increasing one., In order to overcome thisdifficulty the edge gages 38 are mounted in hollow bosses t formed Vonthe ends of the levers 36 and are provided with springs which surroundreduced portions 46 of the gages and hold them yieldingly in position.The reduced portions pass through the bosses 44 and are provided withnuts 44 so that the outward position of the gages canbe varied. It willbe understood that when the levers are held stationary, as aforesaid,the gages will yield to allow for the increased width of the sole as itis fed forward. These springs are arranged to be stronger than vthespring 39 so that they will not come into play except during the timewhen the knives are actually in the sole, as itV will be understood thatas soon as the knives come out of the sole the yielding contact pointswill be able to take up their correct positions. The slots 33, Silengaged by the blocks 35 lie in the general direction of the feed so asto allow the feed movement of the knives VThe machine is provided withfast and loose pulleys il?, i8 and with any convenient clutch mechanismand starting mechanism.

A, part e9 of the frame of the machine is pivoted to the main portion ofthe frame by means of a spindle 50 to which it is fulcrumed, the saidspindle passing through a boss 5l on the main portion of the frame andhaving a spring 52 surrounding it', which is held in place by means of anut and washer, as shown. The part 49 can be swunO backwardlv about itsfulcrurn` a 2D -v f handle 53 being provided for this purpose, in orderto render the various parts inside the frame accessible. The spring 5:2lwill hold the part 4:5) locked, whether it is swung backwardly in themanner just described, or whether it rests in the position shown in Fig.3.

The operation of the machine will no doubt be understood from theforegoing, but it may be briefly ire-stated as follows: The presser foot8 is depressed by means of a treadle not shown) connected to its arin22. and the sole having been placed on the work table and insertedbetween the bridge (i and the presser foot, so as to grip the work, andthe edge gages 3S having been placed in contact with the edge of thesole, the machine is started. The knives e, 5, through the mechanismjust described. will then move forward and slash the sole. They j:

will then move forward in a direction to the left of an observer of Fig. 3 to feed the sole and then come out of the work and return to theiroriginal position. During the next slashing stroke of the knives the fknife lwill come into line with the slash previously formed by the knife5 and will, if the contour of the sole is such as to cause the edgegages 3S to more it, be displaced more or less to one side of the slashand consequently during this slashing move nient of the knife 4f thelength of the slash will be increased to accord with the width ofthesole atV this point. The cutting operations just described arerepeated the required number of times whereby a series of slashes of theproper varying lengths are obtained.

lt will be understood that by having both knives movable they are guidedinto their correct position on the sole by the gages 38, and, whenoperating on an insole, both knives being always located the correctdistance from the channel as it is important that the slash should notextend across the channel.

instead of two knives being used as shown, three or more could beemployed, the said knives being slidingly connected one to the other,and the outside knives be ing connected in the manner hereinbeforedescribed to the levers 36.

It will be observed that the bridge 6 is so constructed and arranged asto provide an unobstructed space at either side of the slashing knives.As a result of this construction a sole may be instantly insertedbetween the knives and bridge either toe first or heel first, thusproducing slashes opening` toward 'the toe or heel, respectively, 'asmay be desired, without change in the direction of feed, readjustment ofgaging devices or in fact any alteration whatever in the machine. It isonly necessary for the operative, if the toe of the sole is firstpresented to the knives, to initially position it so that the firstslash willbe at the toe width corresponding to the width of the knifeLl, and if the heel of the sole is presented iirst, to initiallyposition it so that the iirst slash will be at the shank width co1'-responding to the width of the knife 4'. i

lhile the machine is capable of operating on any type of sole, it isespecially adapted to flexing welt linsoles wherein the slashes extendbetween the portions of the channel cut at each side of the sole, thatis, the construction provides for an unslashed margin on the sole, thuspreserving the channel lip and between substance from mutilation.

Vhile it is preferred to employ the specific construction andarrangement of parts shown and described, since this construction andarrangement is the simplest and most elicient embodiment of theinvention which has yet been devised, it will be understood that thisconstruction `and arrangement is Vnot essential except so far as it isspecified in the claims, and may be varied or modified without departingfrom the broader features of the invention.

W'hat is claimed as new, is :H

l. A shoe sole slashing machine, having, in combination, a plurality ofparallel slash ing knives, of less number than the number of slashes tobe cut, spaced apart a distance equal to the desired lspacing of theslashes, means for relatively moving the knives and sole and forreciprocating the knives toward and from the sole to cause a successionof parallel slashes to be cutrin the'sole, and means for causing aslashmade by one knife on one reoiprocation to be lengthened by the nextadjacent knife on the succeeding reciprooation, substantially asdescribed.

2. A shoe sole slashing machine, having, in combination, means forfeeding a sole stepby-step, means for cutting a transverse slash in thesole after one sole feeding movement, and means for lengthening theslash so made after the next succeeding sole feeding movement,substantially as described. Y 3. A shoe sole slashing machine, having,in combination, a plurality of sole slashing knives, means to feed thesole step-by-step, means for reciprocating said knives toward and fromthe sole, to cut a plurality of slashes, after each sole feedingmovement, and means for lengthening the slash made by one of said knivesby the cutting stroke of a different knife after each succeeding solefeeding movement, substantially as described.

al. A shoe sole slashing machine, having, in combination, two parallelsole slashing knives, means for reciprocating the knives toward and fromthe sole and for feeding the sole'step-by-step, and means for causingone of said knives to lengthen the last preceding sla-sh, and the otherknife to cut a new slash after each sole feeding step, substantially asdescribed.

,5. A shoe sole slashing machine, having, in combination, at least twoparallel slashing knives, and means for moving said knives relatively toeach other laterally to vary the outer limits of the slashed area,substantially as described.

6. A shoe sole slashing machine, having, in combination, at least twoparallel slashing knives, and means controlled by the contourV of thesole area to be slashed for ,movingV said knives relatively to eachother laterally to vary the outer limits of the slashed area,substantially as described.

7. A shoe sole slashing machine, having, in combination, at least twoparallel slashing knives, means for moving said knives relatively toeach other laterally, and means engaging the sole edge for controllingthe extent of said lateral movement, substantially as described. l

8. A shoe sole slashing machine,.having, in combination, atleast twoparallel slashing knives spaced apart a distance equal to the desiredspacing of the slashes, means to vary the lateral relation of saidknives, and means for feeding the sole step-by-step a distance at eachstep equal to the spacing of the knives, whereby the slash made by oneknife will be completed by another knife, substantially as described.

9. A shoe sole slashing machine, having, in combination, at least twoparallel slashing knives relatively movable laterally, devices, engagingthe sole edge, connected to said knives for controlling the amount ofsaid lateral movement, means for feeding the `sole past said devices,and means for rendering said devices ineffective during the feedingmovement, substantially as described.

10. A shoe sole slashing machine, having, in combination, at least twoparallel slashing knives, means for reciprocating the knives toward andfrom the sole and for feeding the sole While the knives are engagedtherein, means for moving said knives relatively to each otherlaterally, and means for preventing the operation of said last namedmeans until the withdrawal of the knives from the sole, substantially asdescribed.

11. A shoe sole slashing machine, having, in combination, at least twoparallel slashing knives, a carrier for said knives, mechanism foractuating said carrier to reciprocate the knives toward and from thesole and to advance said knives While engaged in the sole to feed it,and devices controlled by the contour of the sole area to be slashed formoving said knives relatively to each other laterally constructed andarranged to be inoperative while the knives are in the sole,substantially as described.

12. A shoe sole slashing machine, having, in combination, at least twoparallel slashing knives, a carrier for said knives, mechanism foractuating said carrier to reciprocate the knives toward and from thesole and to advance said knives while engaged in the sole to feed it,devices controlled by the contour of the sole area to be slashed formoving said knives relatively to each other laterally, and yieldingmembers engaging the sole edge, carried by said devices for renderingsaid devices ineective while the knives are in the sole, substantiallyas described.

13. A shoe sole slashing machine, having, in combination, a soleslashing knife, a floating carrier for said knife, means to reciprocatesaid carrier and its knife toward and from the sole, a support toreceive the thrust of the carrier and its knife, means to ad- Vance theknife while in the sole to feed it, and an intermittently operatingpresser foot to hold the sole on said support during the slashing strokeof the knife, substantially as described.

14. A shoe sole slashing machine, having,

in combination, a sole slashing knife, a carrier for said knife, andmeans for actuating said carrier to force the knife into the sole, thenadvance the knife to feed the sole and then withdraw the knife from thesole and reposition it for another parallel slash, substantially asdescribed.

15. In a sole slashing machine, a unitary four-motion sole slashing andsole feeding device, and means for operating it to produce parallelslashes in the sole, substantially as described.

16. A shoe sole slashing machine, having, in combination, sole slashingmeans, means to reciprocate said slashing means in a path oblique to thesole face, a support to receive the thrust of the slashing means, meansfor feeding the sole step-by-step between the sole slashing strokes ofsaid slashing means, and provision for instantly inserting the solebetween said slashing means and support in proper position to receivethe iirst cut either toe first or heel rst, whereby slashes openingtoward either the toe or heel are produced at the will of the operative,substantially as described.

17. A shoe sole slashing machine, having, in combination, sole slashingmeans, means to reciprocate said slashing means in a path oblique to thesole face, means for feeding the sole step-by-step between the soleslashing strokes of said slashing means, and a bridge opposite theslashing means to receive the thrust thereof, having an unobstructedspace at each side of the slashing means whereby a sole may be instantlyinitially positioned to receive the first slash in either the toe orshank at the Will of the operative, substantially as described.

18. A shoe sole slashing machine, having, in combination, a unitarymeans for producing in one face of a sole a succession of obliqueslashes opening'toward one end of the sole and invariably feeding thesole step-bystep in one direction, and means for receiving the thrust ofthe slashing means permitting an instant reverse presentation of thesole to the slashing means in proper' initial position to produceslashes opening toward the other end of the sole while feeding in thesame direction, substantially as described.

ARTHUR BATES.

Witnesses:

FREDERICK WILLIAM WORTH, ALBERT AMos ASTON.

Copies of this, patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

